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» 16-06-16, 22:20

Ok, are you still against streaming? Lol First Nielsen, then the RIAA and Billboard, and now the Grammy Awards embraced streaming as it became the biggest source of revenue in the music industry. You can deny it, but is a fact, pure sales are dead.

"Today, the Recording Academy announced that streaming-only releases will now be eligible for consideration for Grammy nominations, one of five big changes that will be implemented immediately. The 59th annual Grammy Awards are set to take place Feb. 12, 2017."

"As streaming becomes the dominant music consumption platform -- it became the biggest single source of revenue for the U.S. music industry in 2015, according to the RIAA -- the battle between services over exclusive releases and windowing has heated up, particularly between Apple Music and Tidal."

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» 16-06-16, 22:34

Streaming via Spotify is now the main way I consume music. Each advance in technology has seen not only improvements in convenience to the consumer but also shown cost effectiveness too. Everyday I thank Him* for continuously bringing new blessings into my life and reminding me of past scriptures that I may have forgotten. Some people pay homage on Sunday but I choose Friday and will continue to do so for as long as I have life. Amen.

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» 20-06-16, 18:49

Spotify Hits New Active User Milestone

Spotify today has confirmed it has passed a significant mile marker -- one that will help it in its quest for advertising dollars.

The last the public heard about Spotify's monthly active users was within the company's 2015 financial filing, in which it reported 89 million monthly active users at the end of the year. The figure was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. As last night's Silicon Valley pointed out (spoiler-free observation incoming) -- an app's install base is not as important as the number of people actually using it.

An annual study of the advertising and entertainment industries conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) found that "the migration of traditional ad spend to digital (including mobile) arguably still lags behind consumer adoption of the new platforms and devices." While that may be true, the digital advertising pie is far from diminutive, hitting $59.55 billion last year in the U.S. Of that, investment in mobile ads is accelerating much faster than desktop, good news for platforms, like Spotify, which offer a particularly strong mobile experience.

CEO Daniel Ek will be taking part in a discussion during Cannes Lions, the annual advertising convention, this Wednesday (June 22). A quiet hire, confirmed to Billboard last week also pointed to the company's plans for an IPO to be accelerating -- and having a strong advertising business on top of its growing subscription base will be expected by new investors.

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» 03-07-16, 10:42

Spotify claims Apple is being uncompetitive by blocking a new version of its iPhone app from the App Store.
In a letter sent to Apple's top lawyer and passed to some congressional staff in Washington, D.C., Spotify claims the company is "causing grave harm to Spotify and its customers" in the process, Recode reports.
Beyond Spotify's competition with Apple's own subscription streaming service, Apple Music, at the root of the issue are Apple's App Store policies it launched in 2011 that prohibit participating iOS apps to use payment systems other than its own iTunes system within an app. Since Apple Music launched a year ago, Spotify has publicly argued that this subscription policy punishes third-party streaming services, such as its own, with a 30 percent monthly fee on apps that use its billing system, effectively giving its own native service a leg up.
Spotify had passed Apple's fee on to its customers by charging $13 a month through the App Store instead of the standard $10 it charges otherwise, while using a 99 cent promotional rate to further drive users to subscribe through its own website. But, most recently, Apple reportedly threatened to remove the Spotify app from its store altogether if the company continues to advertise that campaign. Spotify complied, but also turned off its App Store billing option.
Now matters have come to a head with an updated version of Spotify's app that has been blocked from the iOS App Store. Spotify's letter, which was sent by Spotify general counsel Horacio Gutierrez to Apple general counsel Bruce Sewell on Sunday, suggests this will be used to challenge Apple's "business model rules" for subscription services in its App Store.
"This latest episode raises serious concerns under both U.S. and EU competition law," Gutierrez's letter states. "It continues a troubling pattern of behavior by Apple to exclude and diminish the competitiveness of Spotify on iOS and as a rival to Apple Music, particularly when seen against the backdrop of Apple’s previous anticompetitive conduct aimed at Spotify … we cannot stand by as Apple uses the App Store approval process as a weapon to harm competitors."
On Wednesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) delivered a speech criticizing Apple and other mega-corporations' business practices, saying their consolidation and concentration of various business sectors "threatens our markets, threatens our economy, and threatens our democracy."
She continued, "Google, Apple and Amazon provide platforms that lots of other companies depend on for survival. But Google, Apple and Amazon also, in many cases, compete with those same small companies, so that the platform can become a tool to snuff out competition."
With Spotify's more than 30 million paying subscribers -- per a report in March -- Spotify by no means is a small company, but is taking this opportunity to its advantage in the ongoing streaming wars that show Apple Music has been making ground. This month, Apple Music reported 15 million subscribers of its own.

» 03-07-16, 11:23

"There can be no doubt that Spotify has benefited enormously from its association with Apple’s App Store. Since joining the App Store in 2009, Apple’s platform has provided you with over 160 million downloads of your app, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in incremental revenue to Spotify. That’s why we find it troubling that you are asking for exemptions to the rules we apply to all developers, and are publicly resorting to rumors and half-truths about our service.

Our guidelines help competition, not hurt it. The fact that we compete has never influenced how Apple treats Spotify or other successful competitors like Google Play Music, Tidal, Amazon Music, Pandora or the numerous other apps on the App Store that distribute digital music."

The letter goes on to detail Apple’s recently announced policy changes to the App Store’s revenue split model that shifts from 70/30 to 85/15 in favor of the developer if an app maintains a subscription for a full year, then details the app update issue Spotify’s letter cited as a problem.

"Shortly after Spotify submitted its app on May 26, our team identified a number of issues, including that the in-app purchase feature had been removed and replaced with an account sign-up feature clearly intended to circumvent Apple’s in-app purchase rules. That feature exists only for the purpose of avoiding having to pay Apple for your use of the App Store by emailing customers within hours, directing them to subscribe to Spotify on its website. A clear violation of the terms every other developer adheres to.

So the app update issue is tied to Spotify requesting user emails after a new launch to pull off what Apple believes is a roundabout way of avoiding the in-app purchase system without losing in-app signups.

During a number of discussions between our team and Spotify, we explained why this sign-up feature did not comply with our guidelines and requested you resubmit a compliant version of the app. On June 10, Spotify submitted another version of the app which again incorporated the sign-up feature directing App Store customers to submit an email address so they could be contacted directly by Spotify in a continued attempt to get around our guidelines. Spotify’s app was again rejected for attempting to circumvent in-app purchase rules, and not, as you claim, because Spotify was simply seeking to communicate with its customers."

You cannot accuse Apple of "anticompetitive" when they apply the same fee to everyone. Literally, they apply the same rules to all developers and yet Spotify tries to create buzz. Looks like the Taylor Swift controversial attracted many paid subscribers and they want more free publicity

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» 20-08-16, 23:32

Wait, Spotify makes their own playlists?? Isn't that manipulation lol people will listen to crap as along as others do too.

Yes, and bad-mouthed sources say they are being "paid" for!

They're not, at least not on a regular basis but of course they are talking with the labels about the music and if the labels are adding them to marketing (see Britney's Facebook posts with "Pre-order on Apple Music/Stream on Spotify") just like Apple and radios do, too. That's also why Spotify doesn't support Katy Perry's "Rise" because it was an Apple exclusive.

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» 08-09-16, 00:42

Spotify has now 39M paid subscribers. The platform added 9M subscribers in just 3 months!

"Spotify has now reached 39 million paying subscribers, a strong milestone that helps to validate the controversial ‘freemium’ business model. The threshold, shared with Digital Music News this morning ahead of a broader announcement, has been fueled by heavy discounting for new (and returning) subscribers, including a three-month, $9.99 introductory deal.

The development is a huge one for Spotify, especially given intense competition coming from Apple Music, not to mention other rivals like Tidal, Deezer, and even YouTube. Back in March, Spotify had 30 million paying subscribers and 100 million total users, suggesting that Spotify is now in the neighborhood of 125 million total users. But paying subscribers are the most important metric for the music industry, with Spotify boosting its paying userbase by an astounding 30+% in just 6 months."

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» 14-09-16, 16:59

Damn! A week ago they reported 39M paid subscribers and now Daniel Ek., the CEO, tweeted that Spotify has already 40M paid subscribers!!

Streaming is coming for blood

Apple Music will be forced to pay extra bucks to get new exclusives, Spotify growing rate is nuts.

To be fair, Spotify is still offering 3-month subscriptions for $0,99 just to move people out of the free tier. They won't be able to offer these forever, otherwise they'll keep losing money and end up bankrupt in the end.

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» 14-09-16, 17:13

Originally Posted by Rihab

To be fair, Spotify is still offering 3-month subscriptions for $0,99 just to move people out of the free tier. They won't be able to offer these forever, otherwise they'll keep losing money and end up bankrupt in the end.

I know, but they've been offering that discount for many years now and they're still growing. I prefer Apple Music but I'm glad that people are willing to pay $$$ again for music because, in Spain nobody buy CDs anymore but right now I know many people who have a premium Spotify subscription. All of my friends, family, even my parents!

After Christmas we'll see If they keep growing or not. The last boost was because they added their "family plan (6 users x $15/month)", that's why they got 10M subscribers in 3 months.

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» 16-09-16, 21:38

I subscribe to Spotify and its how I consume most of my music despite buying physical mediums. However I wish theyd update their layout. It seems old. They should try making it more interesting and creative.

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» 08-11-16, 08:46

I got a question for you guys.
There are few playlists where you can find the newest tracks every week like New music Friday, New music Friday uk, Discover on this week, pop rising, etc.
Do you know any ap or playlist which shows all the new album releases each week?